Instant emergency fan belt replacement kit

ABSTRACT

A fan belt kit for instant use in an emergency when a fan belt breaks on a motor vehicle or on industrial machinery. The kit consists of a double cinch buckle of soft metal, a spool of nylon-reinforced, heavy gauge, plastic friction belting, a cutting instrument, instruction sheet and a gallon of water. It is usually stored in the trunk of the vehicle or in the maintenance room of a shop, factory or laboratory. The buckle and belting are sized to fit the pulleys in use. A single-edged razor blade performs well as the cutting instrument and occupies little space. A gallon of distilled water serves well as the coolant since it may also be drunk or used in the car battery if so needed. The double cinch buckle is fitted with a retainer cover to confine the two spiral-ribbed rollers when placed in their slots at assembly. The belting is cut off at needed length, then threaded around the pulleys and the tag ends are threaded up through the slots in the bottom ends of the buckle, then the two tag ends are pulled outward with the hands to cinch up the belt snugly around the pulleys in a jiffy and your machine is ready to operate again. It&#39;&#39;s a cinch.

United States Patent [191 Brown [451 July24,1973

[ INSTANT EMERGENCY FAN BELT REPLACEMENT KIT [76] Inventor: RolandClough Brown, 425 Stratford Ct., Del Mar, Calif. 92014 [22] Filed: June9, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 263,739

Primary Examiner-Donald A. Griffin [57] ABSTRACT A fan belt kit forinstant use in an emergency when a fan belt breaks on a motor vehicle oron industrial machinery. The kit consists of a double cinch buckle ofsoft metal, a spool of nylon-reinforced, heavy gauge, plastic frictionbelting, a cutting instrument, instruction sheet and a gallon of water.It is usually stored in the trunk of the vehicle or in the maintenanceroom of a shop, factory or laboratory. The buckle and belting are sizedto fit the pulleys in use. A single-edged razor blade performs well asthe cutting instrument and occupies little space. A gallon of distilledwater serves well as the coolant since it may also be drunk or used inthe car battery if so needed. The double cinch buckle is fitted with aretainer cover to confine the two spiralribbed rollers when placed intheir slots at assembly. The belting is cut off at needed length, thenthreaded around the pulleys and the tag ends are threaded up through theslots in the bottom ends of the buckle, then the two tag ends are pulledoutward with the hands to cinch up the belt snugly around the pulleys ina jiffy and your machine is ready to operate again. Its a cinch.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENIEU JUL 24 ms 3. 747. 165

WMS ANT EMERGENCY ifi 1 INSTANT EMERGENCY FAN BELT KIT The instantinvention relates to a new and useful improvement in a fan beltreplacement, and is more particularly concerned with instant replacementby the operator of the vehicle on the road or machine when a fan beltbreaks remote from repair facilities.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an instantreplacement for the broken fan belt that may be installed by theoperator in a few minutes on the roadside in such an emergencysituation.

In conjunction with the above object, it is also a significant object ofthe instant invention to provide a means to proceed on your journey tothe nearest repair facility at the next crossroad or exit from a thruwaywithout the need of a wait and a tow.

Likewise, a significant object of the instant invention resides in thesavings in time and expense that normally results from these unfortunatecircumstances.

A further object of the instant invention saves the impulsive operatorfrom proceeding to the next repair facility running hot with gravedanger to the engine.

Basically, the instant invention provides for the utilization of aninstant emergency fan belt kit, carried along in the trunk of thevehicle and consisting of the following articles: double cinch buckle,made of soft metal, a spool of nylon-reinforced, heavy gauge, plasticfriction emergency belting, single-edged GEM razor blade, illustratedinstruction sheet, and a gallon of distilled water. Such an emergencykit is as much a must for all vehicles with fans as the spare tire andoccupies less space. The double cinch buckle can be used over and overagain. There is significant belting 25' on the spool to cover the lifeof the vehicle. All of these articles may be purchased separately afterthe initial kit supply of any item becomes depleted which may happenwith a commercial vehicle. It will prove a boon to farmers and militaryvehicles in isolated situations.

Likewise, the instant invention frees you from dependence upon afriendly motorist, a kindly highway patrolman or an emergency servicepatrol car. You may drive with assurance that you can reach reasonabledestinations or the nearest repair facility under your own power andwithout extra expense. You remain the master in a bad situation when theelements are against you like heat, the desert, cold, snow and ice,rain, hail, wind, etc., to mention just a few when your fan belt breaks.

These together with other objects and advantages will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of assembly and operation asmore fully heeinafter described and claimed, reference being made to theaccompanying drawing forming a part hereof, wherein like letters andnumerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. I is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on planes, passingthrough section line 11 in FIG. 3 to produce what is essentially a sideview of the double cinch buckle;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on planes, passingthrough section line 22 of the left half of the view, and passingthrough section line 33 on the right half of the view, in FIG. 1 toproduce what is essentially an end view of the double cinch buckle andshowing pulley P rim in phantom;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, half cross-sectional, view taken on planespassing through section line 4-4 in FIG. 1

to produce what is essentially a bottom view of the double cinch buckle;and

FIG. 4 is a small scale front view in phantom of an assembled fan belt,its double cinch buckle in position for operation, snugly-fitted aroundthe pulleys on the fan, alternator and engine drive shaft with radiator,vent and radiator cap in the backgound.

Referring now more specifically to the drawing, in FIGS. ll, 2 and 3 thedouble cinch buckle body I has two slots at its bottom ends forreceiving the ends of the nylon-reinforced, heavy gauge, plasticfriction emergency belt 2 and cam slots on both sides for receivingspiral-ribbed rollers 3, confined in the slots by retainer cover 4,allowing ease of assembly of the double cinch buckle, and in FIG. 4 inphantom is shown an assembly of the double cinch buckle connecting theends of the nylon-reinforced, heavy gauge, plastic friction emergencybtlt in position around the pulleys of the alternator A, engine E, andfan F, all in front of radiator R with vent V and cap C.

Use of the instant emergency fan belt kit arises in the followingsituation when driving: The operator notes a heating up of the car andglances at the temperature gauge. The needle is rising toward theboiling point on the gauge. Suddenly, as the needle reaches this point,a puff of steam is seen at the front of the car emerging from theradiator and drops of water appear on the hood and often splash back onthe windshield. This is the telltale sign to pull to the right off theroad as soon as traffic permits and stop. Shut off the engineimmediately. Get out of the car and open the hood. Examine the fan beltarea and if, as expected, the fan belt is broken and fallen off, youhave located your trouble. Reach down between the radiator and theengine and remove the broken fan belt. Place it in the car. Open thetrunk and take out the safety witch hat and place it well back of thecar along the road to warn other drivers. At night with vehicle lightson, place a red flare instead of the witch hat and turn on your flashingsignals. Take the emergency fan belt kit along with a flashlight atnight from the trunk and proceed as follows, following the illustratedinstruction sheet:

Unreel 4 feet of belting from the spool and cut off with razor blade.Thread belting into the double cinch buckle on one end, allowing about 6inches to lap out above and retainer cover. Thread the other end of thebelting under the pulley of the engine drive shaft, then up over the fanpulley, while holding the double cinch buckle end over and above thealternator pulley. Thread the loose end into the other end of the doublecinch buckle in the straight run of belting between the fan and thealternator pulleys. Grasp the tag ends of the belting, one in each hand,and pull the hands apart causing the belting to tighten up around allpulleys until a snug fit is obtained. The belting will pull out totighten it, but will not loosen it, because the spiral-ribbed rollers gointo action and bind the belt from loosening, in effect, you arecinching up the belt. The tag ends are then bobbed to about 1 inchlength so as not to catch on anything while the belt is moving in itspath over the pulleys. The radiator is now a bit cooler than before andthe cap is carefully removed by first loosening it and allowing anysteam and boiling water to escape and then finally removing it so thatthe water lost in boiling may be replaced from the gallon of distilledwater on hand. The cap is then replaced, and if the hose on the radiatorcap vent is blown off, it is picked up from where it has fallen in thespace between the radiator and the engine and reconnected by forcing thehose over the vent tube end. The operator then starts the engine,running it slowly, and watching the temperature gauge to see the needlereturn to its normal position well below the boiling point. The operatorthen inspects the running engine to see that the fan belt is runningsmoothly as expected and that all pulleys are turning. If so, he closesthe hood, picks up the instant emergency fan belt kit, containing thespool of remaining belting, the illustrated instruction sheet, the razorblade and the gallon jug of distilled water as well as the safety witchhat and places them all in the trunk, closing the trunk. At night heextinguishes the red flare and turns off his flashing signals in thecar. The operator then continues on his journey or to the nearest repairfacility to obtain a new fan belt.

At the repair facility the instant emergency fan belt is cut off withthe razor blade when the mechanic is ready with a new fan belt toreplace the broken one. The broken one from the car is handed to themechanic to help identify the replacement belt size needed. The doublecinch buckle is unthresded from the useless belting and returned to theinstant emergency fan belt kit for another possible use in the future.There is no need to hurry to the repair facility if conditions do notwarrant. The operator may proceed on his journey for some distancewithout replacing the emergency belt as, for example, when he has anappointment, or facilities are not found in the immediate vicinity, orit is nighttime or a holiday and repair facilities are closed, or, inthe case of a foreign car, no replacement belt can be obtained except ata foreign car repair facility usually only found in larger centers.Foreign car operators carry an extra fan belt along in the trunk toavoid this situation. In any event the operator need not worry as theinstant emergency fan belt will run for a long time before it will wearout and break and, in this case, he still has more belting available inthe instant emergency fan belt kit for immediate use.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that a unique system ofinstant broken fan belt replacement has been devised by means of aninexpensive fan belt kit and a gallon of distilled water which also maybe used to drink or for the car battery. Incidentally, while notdetailed above, the kit should find ready use in any broken beltsituation in a shop, on the farm, almost anywhere where belts connectdriver and driven pulleys, if only the proper size instant emergency fanbelt kit is kept on hand for use when needed.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact fabrication and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to as, for example, beltconnected drives of industrialmachinery in factories, shops, appliances, office machines, power toolsand commercial vehicles, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An emergency fan belt connector comprising a double cinch buckleprovided with a bottom, top, and side walls and having a pair oflongitudinally spaced slots thru the bottom thereof adapted to eachthreadable receive an end portion of an associated emergency fan belt ofsufficient length to enable hand holds at the free ends thereof forcinching it up snugly around all pulleys to be interconnected, said sidewalls having cam slots therein for guiding clamping rollers retainedtherein into binding relationship with said belt ends when the belt endsextend thru the said spaced slots in generally parallel opposedrelationship to each other, and cam slots having portions thereofconverging towards the top end portions extending longitudinallygenerally parallel to the top.

2. The connector of claim 1 wherein said top is removably secured to theconnector, said clamping rollers are spirally-ribbed, and said fan beltis formed from nylon-reinforced, heavy gauge, plastic friction belting.

1. An emergency fan belt connector comprisinG a double cinch buckleprovided with a bottom, top, and side walls and having a pair oflongitudinally spaced slots thru the bottom thereof adapted to eachthreadable receive an end portion of an associated emergency fan belt ofsufficient length to enable hand holds at the free ends thereof forcinching it up snugly around all pulleys to be interconnected, said sidewalls having cam slots therein for guiding clamping rollers retainedtherein into binding relationship with said belt ends when the belt endsextend thru the said spaced slots in generally parallel opposedrelationship to each other, and cam slots having portions thereofconverging towards the top end portions extending longitudinallygenerally parallel to the top.
 2. The connector of claim 1 wherein saidtop is removably secured to the connector, said clamping rollers arespirally-ribbed, and said fan belt is formed from nylon-reinforced,heavy gauge, plastic friction belting.